Bordeaux to St. Jean

[gholsong]

Anyone know the best way to get from Bordeaux to St. Jean? Is there a bus or train, and if so which one?

Thanks.

 

[Peter Robins]

The best way is to walk: waymarking starts on the southern outskirts of Bordeaux at the priory at Cayac, where there's a small pilgrim hostel.

If you really must go by train, pdf timetables can be downloaded from http://www.ter-sncf.com/Aquitaine/carte ... ratio=1.28

 

[gholsong]

Unfortunately...

we can't walk. We have to train it from Bordeaux to Bayonne to make our schedule work (we already have the airline tickets booked.)


However, money is really tight with us. If we take the late train from Bordeaux, which gets in about 23:00, is it possible to sleep overnight in the Bayonne train station and then get the early train to St. Jean? Or, is there a pilgrim refugio in town that we could stay in for the night?

Thanks for any help.

Grant

 

[Peter Robins]

Re: Unfortunately...

is it possible to sleep overnight in the Bayonne train station and then get the early train to St. Jean? Or, is there a pilgrim refugio in town that we could stay in for the night?

you're about 30 years too late for sleeping in railway stns. Nowadays security guards go round with dogs turfing out the vagabonds. According to the website, Bayonne stn is open
lundi à samedi : 5h30 - 19h40
dimanche et fêtes : 6h40 - 20h30
If you arrive later, access to/from platforms will be via some side-gate.

No pilgrim accommodation that I'm aware of; you could try the local Amis de St Jacques and see what they recommend http://www.aucoeurduchemin.org/
Otherwise there's some recommendations for hotels on other threads
viewtopic.php?t=98

[aside]at one time there was an amusing sign in the stn at Avignon. The English version was supposed to read 'It is forbidden to bed down in the station'. It actually read 'It is forbidden to be down in the station' [/aside]